by Alexa Davis
I glanced down at my outfit, feeling a little overdressed for that, but I was willing to go along with it. “Okay, sure, is there a ball or something?” I laughed.
“No ball, but a nice picnic. I just thought that you’d prefer that to a dinner.”
“Oh, okay.” I felt a bit chastened by that; it was actually thoughtful for him to go to all that effort for me. “It sounds nice.”
And as I climbed aboard, I felt even worse for my doubt. Milo had turned it into something amazing. There were fairy lights everywhere, twinkling like stars, and a red velvet picnic blanket filled with strawberries, champagne, chocolates, and other treats I loved so much. It was actually a sweet night he had planned.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to a bag. “Is that Landon’s?”
“Fireworks.” He grinned happily. “Do you want to see?”
I sat down, taking a big swig of champagne while he moved the fireworks toward the end of the boat to set them off. He lit the first one, before joining me with a massive smile on his face.
“Wow,” I exclaimed as the sky lit up pink. “This is awesome; thank you so much.”
“You’re totally worth it.” He smiled happily.
I trained my eyes on the sky, enjoying the show as Milo threw his arms around me. Then I started to notice something unusual about the fireworks. It became increasingly obvious that this wasn’t a normal display at all. My suspicions started when they began to take on the shapes of hearts, and grew as the fireworks formed words.
“Will…” I read, furrowing my eyebrows. “You… Marry… Oh my God!” I screamed as the last word formed ‘Me.’ “Are you serious?”
He stared at me with intense love in his gaze. “Of course, I’m serious. I love you – you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’d be crazy not to make you my wife.” He paused and stared at me, leaving me feeling breathless and in wonder. “So… Will you? Be my wife? Your silence is starting to worry me…”
“Of course!” Somehow those words managed to unlock my voice box. “I’d love to. I want to be your wife, too.”
As he produced a box with an incredible diamond ring inside, it all became a reality. This was it: Milo and I were about to make that ultimate commitment, and that felt amazing.
“That isn’t all,” he told me as he slid the ring onto my finger. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of all the moving around.” My breath caught in my throat. “I want to start a family, and for that, we need to stick in one place. Things are different now, so I think we should stay here. We could live in the cabin.”
“Oh, my God,” I gasped, intense happiness consuming me. “That’s what I want, too; that sounds amazing.”
As his lips collided with mine and our fates were sealed forever, I realized that I finally had it all, everything that I’d ever wanted. It felt wonderful.
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BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR
By Alexa Davis
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Alexa Davis
Part 1
Chapter One
Justin, Monday, early February, Portland
As I pulled the charcoal suit around my body, I couldn’t help but feel pleased by the way it fit me so well. I didn’t grow up with too much; my family was never the wealthiest, so now that I was filthy rich, rather than simply middle class, and I’d made that money all by myself, I enjoyed reaping the benefits of it. I loved having clothing sculpted directly around my frame, I relished the solid gold cufflinks clipped on my sleeves, the thick platinum chain that I hung around my neck made me feel like a big shot…and that was exactly what I was. At the grand old age of thirty-eight, I finally felt like everything was really good.
When I was in school, and the teachers noticed that I had an aptitude for mathematics, they did their best to hone that. At first, with childish arrogance and naivety, I wasn’t interested. That was boring. I found it much more fun to think about girls and partying.
But as I grew and actually started to consider my future, I quickly realized that I could use my skills to make myself a get-rich-pretty-quickly scheme. I worked on my own talent, I did a lot of research by myself, and I discovered that smart investments were the best way to make a lot of money fast, so I went with that. And, it worked very well in my favor – now I had absolutely everything that I could ever want.
“Garrett,” I yelled through my house as I thundered down the stairs. “Garrett, I’m off to work. Don’t get yourself in any trouble, all right?”
I trailed off as I finally spotted him, lying across my massive couch with three women entangled with him. I shook my head, disgusted at his behavior, but of course, as I was already perfectly aware, he was never going to change.
My younger brother, who I only had two short years on, was light years away from me. He’d never had the realization that he could actually make something of his life. He simply continued along in the idiotic, youthful way that he always had, using my money to his advantage. All he would ever care about was drinking, women, having fun…acting like a fool. I’d tried to tell him millions of times that he was throwing his life down the toilet, but he just laughed at me and insisted he wasn’t.
Okay, so I wasn’t a prude. With my millions, my tall, dark, and handsome traditional good looks, plus bright blue piercing eyes to boot, I had women throwing themselves at me all the time. I could have lived like Garrett if I wanted to, especially with my company now pretty much running itself, but that just wasn’t me.
Then again, I wasn’t exactly experienced at relationships, either. I hadn't ever managed to find anyone that I wanted to let in close enough – not to make things real, not to have a solid, proper relationship with. So for now, I simply focused on the company.
“Idiot,” I muttered, frustrated at myself as I grabbed the nearest blanket to throw over the foursome. Unfortunately, that small movement might not have been enough to wake up the undoubtedly intoxicated women, but it was enough to wake up Garrett.
“Urgh, God, what time is it?” he groaned, rubbing his eyes. “Why is it so bright?”
“This is called early morning,” I shot back sarcastically. “You might never have seen it before, considering you don’t have a job to get up for.” It did annoy me that he was so lazy, but what the hell could I do about it? It certainly wasn’t my job to force him to work.
“Are you going to work now?” he asked, actually having the audacity to sound bewildered by that. “But why? Why not just sleep in for once? Why not take a day off? They don’t need you at the office, do they? Plus…” He smirked, which meant I knew exactly what was coming next. “Haven’t you made enough money?”
My brother was never going to get it, especially when he didn’t pay for his own life. Most of my money wasn’t actually with me; it was tied up in investments and that was where it would stay. At least until I had a solid nest egg to leave behind…and maybe someone to leave it behind for, of course.
“Actually, I am needed at work – a concept you might understand if anyone ever needed you…”
“Oh blah, blah, blah,” he shot back bemusedly, standing up in front of me, despite the fact that he was damn near buck naked – a sight I did not need to see. “Yeah, I know, I get it, and if you’re really about to head into another rant at me, then I’m going to need some coffee.”
I shook my head and sighed deeply. “No, I don’t have time to lecture you today.” I wanted to, I had a whole lot that I wanted to say, but I didn’t need to alienate him. He was the only family that I had left, after all. Any distant relatives that we had lived
oversees, a lot of them in England, and our parents…well, they weren’t around anymore. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
I stalked out of the house before I could get too annoyed with Garrett. I couldn’t really blame him for his behavior because I’d never tried to really force him to change. I’d always funded his lifestyle, but that was just me doing the best with what I had.
Our mother died when we were young. I couldn’t remember too much about her, except for the image of her lying in the hospital bed before she passed. My father always described her as an immensely beautiful woman, but to me, she just looked frail and sad. If I couldn’t remember her, then I highly doubted that Garrett could, which was likely a big part of the way he acted out all the time. We don’t even really know what happened to her; Dad was always too saddened by the memory of her to discuss it with us.
Then there was our dad, the man who pretty much raised us alone. He was a wonderful man, a rock through some of the most difficult times in our lives, the person we assumed would always be there…until he got sick, too. Prostate cancer got him. And because he was such a proud man, by the time he actually went to get himself checked out, it was much too late. He wasn’t concerned for himself, though. He didn’t seem to have any consideration for his own needs; he simply worried about me and Garrett until the bitter end. Well, more my brother than me. I already had my life together by that point.
I had promised him faithfully on his deathbed that I would look after my brother, no matter what, and that was what I was trying my best to do. I wasn’t totally sure that I was succeeding in the right way, but at least he was being looked after.
I strutted proudly into the office, and everyone turned to look at me when I walked in. They all admired me, they all saw me as some sort of business hero, and I loved that. People enjoyed a rags-to-riches sort of story.
“Hey there, handsome,” the overly flirty receptionist, Marie, purred at me. “How was your weekend?” She wasn’t even slightly trying to hide her attraction to me, but then again, the women here never did. I would never go for it, though – gold diggers didn’t attract me. They just came with the territory with being successful.
“Good, thanks.” I shot her a wink back, just to make her day. “How about you?”
She rambled on, telling me about her plans that seemed to involve a whole lot of drinking, which I only half listened to. I could see Harry, my financial advisor, looking my way. It wasn’t me throwing things down the drain, of course; I was damn sensible with cash, but I had to take the flak for how Garrett was leading his life.
“Sorry, Marie, I’ll see you in a bit.” I eventually stopped her, the distraction lacing my tone. “Harry, how are you this morning?”
He came into my office and I rang through to my PA, Lucia, to sort us out some coffee before we both took our seats for the serious stuff to begin. I sighed deeply, and shuffled uncomfortably in my chair. “So, what’s going on, Harry?”
“Well, as you already are aware of,” he said in a pinched tone, “your business is doing really well. The percentage of your investments making you money is incredible. It’s just the outgoing that are causing you problems.” He didn’t say Garrett, despite the fact that we both knew he meant it.
“You really need to find a way to curb your spending.” He handed me a list and started to reel through it all. “Artwork that I know you don’t like, seven limo trips in one day, the flight to New York—”
“Right, I know, I’ll sort it out,” I snapped at him, taking my temper out on the wrong person. “Don’t worry.”
He’d heard it a million and one times before, which was obvious in his expression. “Look, I know, but…well, my advice to you would be to expand even further, make some more investments.”
This was him giving up on me ever dealing with Garrett, which, to be fair, I understood. If I were him, I would probably give up, too; it had been years after all. “I would get your research assistants to find you some new places…”
As he told me exactly what to do next, my eyes drifted down to the family photo sitting on my desk. I couldn’t help but wonder what my dad would think of me now, of both of us. I had everything I’d ever wanted, plus more, but I was risking it all just to keep a promise that I’d made to a dying man. Maybe I would be better off helping Garrett in a different way. Maybe the best thing to do would be to kick him out and make him stand on his own two feet, but that didn’t feel right. I knew Garrett wasn’t capable of looking after himself yet, so it wouldn’t be fair.
I would just have to expand the business for now and make more money that way. Garrett, I would deal with later on.
Just as I was saying goodbye to Harry, he shot me one more meaningful look. “You have done well, Justin,” he told me seriously. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have that threatened. I understand your situation, I know why things are the way that they are, but someday soon, you won’t be able to expand anymore. There will come a time when there is no other solution. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
With a sinking heart, I nodded morosely. “I understand.” Probably much better than he thought I did. “Thank you, Harry. Thank you for everything, as always. I’ll keep in touch with you; whatever I do, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you,” he smiled sadly at me. “I’ll speak to you soon.”
My head fell into my hands for a few moments once he’d gone, the reality of everything hitting me hard, but then I forced myself to snap into action. I needed to go and see the research team now, before things got too overwhelming for me. I would put in some calls myself, too. If I needed more money to keep things the way they were at the moment, then that’s what I would do.
Chapter Two
Annie – Monday
“Urgh,” I grumbled as the bright white light shone into my bedroom, disturbing me from my sleep. “Is it that time already?”
As I turned over, I accidentally knocked the person in my bed, making me jump. I hadn't realized that I wasn’t alone. I shifted more comfortably and turned my body right around to give me a better view of the beautiful creature lying next to me. I ran my fingers down her cheek carefully, not wanting to wake her, before placing a small kiss on her forehead. Rae was my darling, sweet, four-year-old daughter, the axis that my world spun upon, and I would have done anything for her.
But that certainly didn’t explain what she was doing lying next to me.
“Mommy?” she murmured, finally flickering her eyes open, proving that my attempts to keep her asleep hadn't exactly worked. “Is it morning? Do I have to get up?”
“You do, sweetheart,” I confirmed with a smile playing on my lips. “But first, I want to know why you’re in here with me? I thought if I brought you that princess bed, you were going to sleep in it forever more.”
“Oh, well, I was,” I could tell that she was doing her best to think on her feet. “But then when I woke up in the night…you were by yourself, and…and I felt bad for you.”
“You did, huh?” I did my best to keep my tone light, to act like that statement didn’t totally break my heart. How can my little gorgeous daughter be so observant, even if she is only using it as an excuse? I did everything that I could to disguise my loneliness from her, but she had picked up on it, anyway. “Well, it’s just a good thing that you’re around, isn’t it?” I blinked quickly, ridding my eyes of the tears, and I slid out of the bed quickly. “Come on, let’s go and have some breakfast.”
I stumbled into the front room with Rae bounding behind me, proving that she had endless energy despite the early hour. She was one of those kids who never seemed to really get tired, no matter what she did in a day, whereas I was always the opposite – worn out before I’d even gotten started.
“Actually, maybe you should go and get dressed now, while I’m cooking breakfast,” I insisted as I spotted the time. “I’m running a little late, and Nancy will be here soon. We need to get going if I’m going to open up the store on time.”
“Yay!” Rae squealed excitedly. “I love Nancy.”
“So do I,” I said quietly as she raced away. I honestly didn’t know what I would do without Nancy. When I first opened my coffee and book shop, Boffees, I’d needed someone to look after my baby. Nancy was the only candidate to apply for the position that I ever considered. I was so overprotective over my baby girl that it had to be absolutely the right person, and she was the only one I warmed to. With her short, blonde hair, her heart-shaped face, and her caring smile, I just felt a connection with her. After talking to her about her qualifications, security checks, and her past experience, I hired her on the spot, and I’d never looked back.
Not only was she now the best nanny ever, she was my closest friend, too. She’d seen me at my best times, and my worst, and me her. A beautiful friendship had been created, and that was worth everything to me. Without her, I couldn’t have made it through a lot of the things that I had.
I flicked the stove on and started cooking some bacon with my mind on work. The business was doing really well, even in a world where people believed that electronic books were the future, and that made me so proud of myself.
I’d managed to overcome a lot of crap in my life to actually make a success of myself…but now I wanted more. I wanted to be able to leave a really decent inheritance for Rae, and I had to expand for that to happen.
The annoying thing was I had the potential; if Boffees could do well here, then I believed it could do well anywhere. I just didn’t have the money to fund that sort of thing, and I wasn’t sure that anyone would be willing to invest in me. From my experience, investors only wanted to know the bigger companies, and books and coffee didn’t exactly qualify as that, however essential I believed both those things were.
“Do you like my outfit, Mommy?” Rae bounced back in, showing me her princess dress, which she’d combined with shorts, tights, and a superhero cape. “Do you think Nancy will like it?”